


One door opens, another one closes

by Wichi



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Bargaining, Gen, Heavy Angst, One Shot, Platonic Relationships, Sad Ending, Self-Sacrifice, Supernatural season 13, short n sad cause that's how I roll, the emtpy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-11 00:20:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13512840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wichi/pseuds/Wichi
Summary: Every angel that ever died is in the Empty, and Castiel has to make a choice. Him, or his mentor.





	One door opens, another one closes

      “Kiddo, I have better things to do than watch you  _wallow.”_

  “We both know you have nothing to do at all.”

The cosmic entity gave a grandiose roll of his eyes, staggering a few theatrical steps from the silent misery beside it. Calloused hands cinched tight in olive-dyed canvas. Broken wings draped over an inert body. Careful arms cradled that still form close. 

It was  _maddening._ To cast a creature of light into the voracious darkness of the Empty was torture enough. But Castiel would have accepted it  _tenfold_ if it meant he were the  _only_ damned creature within it.

      “You’re wasting your time, you inexorable  _infant!”_

“Which I would spend doing  ** _WHAT_** _ **, exactly?”**_

Ocean blue eyes finally lifted as his graveled tone cut through the aching silence like a cleaver. The entity’s response was a look of utter  _loathing_ before it resumed its fussy pacing and the angel turned back to his silent charge.

Maddening wasn’t enough to describe what felt like a  _sledgehammer_ pounding through his sternum with every beat of his heart. For there was another heartbeat mere inches from his own. Lungs that breathed.  _And hazel eyes that would not open._

Castiel was on his knees, cradling his lost brother close, flightless wings wrapped protectively around his sleeping form. Even here, even  _now_ , the Seraph was still the Shield. Standing guard dutifully over someone he should have been there to protect.

      “Doesn’t he look  _peaceful?”_

The angel’s head snapped up as the entity knelt beside them, face lit with a smile that turned Castiel’s veins to ice. He reached out as if to brush tawny hair back from the Archangel’s forehead.

       _“He hasn’t a care in the world-”_

      “Touch him and I will reach down your throat and rip out your spine.”

That threat hung heavy in the crushing silence. For a moment, the mirror faces stared at one another with the promise of  _death_.

      “You two are not skipping out of here into the sunset, kiddo. You are going to join him in sleep, whether you like it or not.”

      “Release us, or I will fight you for eternity. Every minute. Every hour. Until we both go  _insane_.”

The entity was shaking, hands balled into fists as it slowly rose to its feet. Castiel’s stolen face was tight, its teeth all but bared.

      “If I don’t have the power to put you back to sleep, what makes you think I have the power to _resurrect a Seraph and an Archangel at once?_  Either I send you back,  _alone_ , to go frolic with those monkeys,  _or_ I release  **him**  unto the world, and  _you_ go back to your peaceful sleep willingly.  _Chose_.”

      “ **Gabriel**.”

The angel’s gaze was fixed on his elder brother’s face, still faintly gold, even in the darkness of the Empty. A hand shifted to cup the side of the Joybringer’s neck, anchoring his decision.

      “He can do more good in the world than a thousand iterations of myself. He can bring stability to Heaven, and he can be the mentor Jack needs. Release Gabriel,  _and I will sleep_. Just… let me have a moment to say  **goodbye**.”

Silence settled again as the entity grinned with delight. Castiel ignored it. Ignored the exhaustion that had seeped into his Grace and  _bones._  A hand reached back, fingers wrapping around one of his few remaining primaries and yanking it free with a grunt of pain. The feather, dark as the Empty itself, was slid carefully into the folds of Gabriel’s jacket.

       _“Forgive me, brother_. I should never have left you in that ring of holy fire. I should have been there to shield you from Lucifer… _but I’m here now_. And our flawed…  _broken_  little world needs your song  _more than ever.”_

Their foreheads met, Castiel’s face crumpled with the threat of tears as blue eyes screwed shut.

       _“I’m sorry. **I love you.”**_

The Archangel grew lighter in his hands, dissolving in a scattering cloud of gold and leaving the mirrored pair in darkness. A strong hand pressed against the Seraph’s shoulder, pushing him to the ground.

      “We had a  _bargain_.  _ **Sleep**_.”

Castiel was numb. There was no resistance, save for the bending of an arm beneath his head to serve as a pillow. That exhaustion had mingled with an overwhelming sense of relief, for Gabriel was  _alive_. He would do what his little brother could not. He would make this world right again. There was no one else, there was  _no one better who **could.**_

That thought drifted from his mind. Drifted like the angel into sleep.


End file.
